An Unexpected Surprise
by Rakcrack15
Summary: Life is full of surprises! It was not often that Ben Tennyson was the one who regularly gives you a call, or rather is ever particular to call in the first place. So when that happens, what surprises can it hold for Julie? Benlie one shot... and all criticisms will be welcomed warmly! :D :D


**An Unexpected Surprise**

* * *

**A/N: Yes yes yes! Finally! After all this time, I managed to write my first fanfiction! :D :D (_Throws balloons and flowers around!) _**

**Firstly, I would love to give MugetsuPipefox lots of thank you's for being my beta reviewer in this story, and for helping me correct and improve my structure greatly! You really are a dear! :D :D**

******Now, this is a Benlie one-shot, and needless to say, I found absolutely no justice given to Julie's character in the series, making her more of a dominating person, than an understanding one! And the Benlie break-up was absolutely formed on such an unacceptable basis!**

**Nevertheless, I've been babbling too much now, and I've been delaying to you my story!**

**Disclaimer: Oh for goodness sake! Why on earth should anyone think that I owned Ben 10 in the first place! It's clearly owned by MOA and Cartoon Network!**

**P.S. : This story is written completely in Julie's POV, so ta da! **

* * *

It was not often that Ben Tennyson was the one who regularly gives you a call, or rather is ever particular to call in the first place. Maybe it was more for that reason that when I received a call in the morning, during my tennis practice, with Ben's name as the caller ID, that I was surprised through and through.

"Hey Ben, what's up?"

"Uh, hi, I, uh, just, well…." Ben stammered.

"Well?" I asked, a little impatient now. Ever since I and Ben had begun dating, and Ben's secret was known to me, he had quite lost the stammering habit, but he did have the most impeccable timing for speaking all the wrong things at the wrong times, which most of the time resulted in the formation of an argument between us.

Now Ben seemed to have gotten even more uncomfortable on the phone, as he quite suddenly blurted out, which quite looked like he didn't mean to put it up that way, "Will you be with me if you're free today evening?"

Whatever it was that I'd expected Ben to say, it was not this! This certainly caused me to exclaim a rather overdramatic, "What!"

"It's alright if you don't want to, I was just…" he could not continue further.

It was true that I and Ben had become a couple once again over the past two weeks, after my two months of dating Hervé, which ended in the two of us just "falling apart". Hervé was way too perfect of a boyfriend for me, having his fixed "movie dates" and all. But after dating Ben for one and a half years, my tastes about boys had changed drastically. During my time with Ben, I came to learn that everybody makes mistakes. Sometimes one may be a little late for a date, or sometimes due to unavoidable reasons things may not go as it should. Maybe that was the reason that I found too much perfection in Hervé, which only made me feel more irksome than usual. During our first meeting, just after my break-up, Ben once again sprung up on the chance to ask me to turn over a new leaf . I'd decided to give him one last chance, clearly emphasising the point that if he felt that the commitment of our relationship was becoming too much of a burden over his other responsibilities, he could call our relationship off, and I would willingly understand.

But now that my shock had worn off at hearing Ben ask me out on a sort of date, I only too willingly answered with embarrassment, "Of course I will… What time, then?"

"It's 11 now, we can meet up at 4… I'll pick you up from your place," I could almost hear the relief in his voice.

"Sure," I replied politely. We came to an end of our conversation.

* * *

So it was at 3:50 pm when I was finally ready, adding my last touch of light powder to my cheeks. I'd kept my dress unusually simple; a simple light yellow top and a knee-length black skirt, with my hair done in a pony tail. I had perfect black sandals to go with my outfit. I'd kept my make-up extremely simple too, with only mascara on my eyes, a light application of lip gloss on my lips and a little compact powder to go along with it. The last touch to my attire was my small yellow-black clutch purse which went superbly well with the total dress up.

I was just admiring the total effect of my attire when I was completely taken by surprise as a loud honk was heard through the window, which faced the main road. It was undoubtedly Ben's car. I was surprised by the fact that, except for our first date, Ben was never on time for dates, what with all the continuous alien activities cropping over. I immediately rushed over to the window to see that unmistakable race car of Ben's waiting at the side of the road, positioned exactly in front of the front door of my house.

My parents had gone to Japan for 3 weeks, since my father was a correspondent of the Daily Times and had to go about on his little trips to different parts of the world. This left the house to my liberty, and I quickly rushed down to the front door just as the bell of my house was rung. But when I opened the door, I was thoroughly taken aback, and so was Ben.

The way he looked at me, I almost thought his eyes might pop off his head, but my surprise too, was very evident on my face. Apparently, like me, Ben too, had quite changed himself out from his usual black T-shirt-blue jeans-green jacket combination, and now, instead, stood in front of me in a casual white shirt and black jeans. His clothes were just as simple as mine, but never had I seen him look more handsome and charming.

After staring at each other for 5 minutes, we finally managed to break from our spell.

"You look… beautiful," Ben remarked.

I gained red mounds on both my cheeks, and returned Ben's compliment with, "You indeed look charming, too," which made him blush equally.

"Let's go now, shall we?"

I replied in the affirmative and both of us took our seats in Ben's DX Mark-10. Ben took a look at me one last time before he started up the engine. The car sprang to life at once and Ben drove the car away steadily.

* * *

At the beginning of the journey we both were quite silent. My mind was going over several unimportant things, when Ben's voice cut through my thoughts.

"I'm sorry, but what were you saying?" I asked apologetically.

"When are your parents coming back from Japan?" he repeated.

"Oh, they'll be back by next week." The two of us were enveloped in silence once more. Even though we'd begun dating again, we didn't have enough topics to cover, and we were trying to be too polite to each other.

It was at this point that I quite intentionally put my question to Ben, "You really are trying to do your best to make this relationship work, aren't you?"

"I promised that I'd try my best to make this relationship work despite of all the conditions," he replied honestly.

I gave a satisfied nod in return and put forth another statement "You were early today…"

"Yeah, I didn't have anything much to do, and since I know that you aren't like those other girls who take hours on doing themselves up, I thought you'd be ready."

At this point another question, in fact, the most important question of the day, came across my mind. "You didn't tell me where exactly are you taking me for a date Ben…".

A sudden change came over the car. The so far polite and well-mannered Ben almost reverted back to his old self.

"Jeez Jules! What's the point of a surprise date when you know where you are going?" he answered with his famous cocky grin.

Suddenly I felt relieved, like a big burden was taken off my shoulders which I didn't even know was there! This was Ben I was with, the Ben I'd always desired to be with, the Ben who I've always been ready to do anything for! How could I behave so stupidly! Indeed, I'd been acting like an imbecile, all afraid of… I didn't even know what I was afraid of… another break up? Ben never being the same again? Or of me ditching him way too poorly? But seeing for the first time in two weeks, Ben's original cockiness creep to his face, I felt as if everything would become perfectly alright between us; that all the two of us had to give was time.

And for the first time in the two of us being together, I laughed heartily.

"Alright Ben! But I better hope you are not taking me for one of those Sumo Slammer movies!"

Ben put on a childish face and added pouted lips to make him look like a completely disapproving child. God, how much I had missed these little things about him…. But I would make sure this time that I too would give 100% in our relationship.

"Well, I never used to see you complaining earlier about Sumo Slammer's in our dates!"

"If that's the program of the date, you might as well drop me home now, or I might hammer you with my racquet," I added playfully.

"You wouldn't do that…. Not if the date contained something interesting" Ben said confidently. But I too, was not going to back down so easily now.

A smug grin formed on my face. "You might as well turn the car back now Ben…. I think I would love to cancel the date here right now!"

I observed Ben's expression, but when I saw it, I nearly accepted defeat. Ben had on one of those looks when he had the ultimate winning hand. And to put a seal on my doubt, he spoke like those salesmen who try to make you greedy with those buy 1 get 1 free offers.

"And would you like to do that, even if that something interesting was…. _shopping_?" He purposely added emphasis to the last word, and I knew I was very well defeated.

"Very well" I growled at him playfully, "But you'll have to carry all my bags."

"That's a deal."

* * *

It was after two hours of satisfying shopping at the mall, that once again both me and Ben were in the car.

"Well, thanks a lot Ben! That was some really awful shopping I happened to do today," I ended apologetically. I knew shopping was one of the things Ben hated as much as studying, but he had been quite good natured, and as per the deal, he had carried all my shopping bags.

"Well, I'll definitely make you sit through 3 Sumo Slammer's marathons one day as a payback, so no worries." He replied only too happily.

"Uhhhh…. So, where next?" I asked to change the topic. Talking of Sumo Slammers was the best way to ruin our so far brilliant date, and I was in no way eager to do so.

"Didn't I tell you earlier that it wouldn't be a surprise date if you knew the place?" Ben spoke in a mocking sing-song tone which really irritated me.

"Fine! Do as you like" was all I replied.

"Oh Julie, now don't get all angry. I was just trying to keep the surprise" Ben responded this time in an almost hurt voice, but I knew him too well. That was one of those emotional blackmailing tones which he used unashamedly, to melt people's hearts off completely.

"Alright alright, I'll wait" I resigned to him. After all, I did not want to provoke an argument, when everything was going on too perfectly.

Finally, after sitting for 10 minutes in silence, the car stopped in front of the cinema.

"So_ this_ is the surprise! I hope you do show me a good movie containing neither vampires nor wrestlers!" I exclaimed as we walked towards the counter. Apparently Ben was so absorbed in getting the tickets that he did not even pay attention to my little joke. It barely took us any time, before we found ourselves in one of the back rows of the hall. The hall was quite full and we were lucky that we got the tickets in a touch and go situation.

Ben had bought two tickets to a light hearted romance-comedy that had just been released this week. It was indeed a perfect choice of movie that Ben chose, as the "rom-com" was just the type of movies I loved to watch. I was surprised that Ben, who found rom-com movies absolutely trash, and who thought _movies_ like Sumo Slammers were "classic", was taking a good amount of interest in the movie. It was the second time that day that I noticed how much indeed Ben was trying to make our relationship work. It was just then that the interval was announced and Ben went out to buy an extra box of popcorn.

* * *

Finally, after an amazing movie, we once again journeyed through the car, but this time our journey was quite short, as Ben parked straight in front of Burger Shack. It happened to be both mine and Ben's favourite joint and also, it was the first time in two months that I'd been to Burger Shack to enjoy some of its delicacies. Hervé, being a Parisian in particular, seemed to revolt the idea of American fast food, and seemed to stick only to good French joints, and, occasionally, an Italian or Spanish one.

The restaurant was fairly empty except for two booths and that enabled us to get our favourite booth near the window. We had a simple dinner; Ben ordered for me the Shack's special meal combo, which was my favourite, while he ended with his ever classic chilli fries and a coke.

During the meal, we spoke on several topics: his Plumber business, his new partner, my tournaments, school, holidays, relationships…

"I'm sorry I ditched you for Hervé, Ben." I said suddenly, interrupting Ben's speech.

That caught Ben totally off guard for a moment before he regained himself. He gave me a bewildered look, and I continued.

"Look Ben, I know that for the past few months, things were not so great between us, and between you and me, I won't have a problem saying that my own fame gave me a bad influence. I began to feel just as important as you, and fame got in my head just as bad. I began gathering that you had no right to cancel dates and stuff all by yourself because I was just as important as you are… Maybe that's why I began to get dominating. And when on the phone you were mumbling stuff about your game which coincided in a very bad way with our conversation, I just felt as though you were trying to show how insignificant I was in your life. I tried to make a break-up and end things for the betterment of the two of us, but see how that worked out?" I ended lamely.

Throughout my speech, Ben silently listened to me without interrupting me once, for which I was grateful… Another burden felt relieved off my shoulders as I finally spoke my mind to Ben about the whole matter. Even though I and Ben always had arguments, the only reason why our relationship was special was because of the understanding and honestly between us.

At last Ben spoke, but in such a way, that it removed any remaining doubt I may have had in the slightest about our reconciliation.

"Julie, we both made our mistakes in the past, and we've both learnt from it. Let that be in the past. Just give this relationship another chance, and I promise to you, that if we both give in our best, there's no reason why our relationship should fail again. You know the real me, I can be honest and frank only with you, and perhaps, Gwen and Kevin, about my feelings, and, if things are so clear between us, minus our faults, we have a damning good relationship!" He ended slightly breathlessly.

I now looked at him with confidence and yet asked him childishly, "Promise?"

Ben replied an equally appealing "promise" in return. After that, the two of us got up and left Burger Shack smiling towards our new future, hand in hand.

* * *

But that, it seems, was after all not the last stop of our date. Ben now drove the car towards the beach and we spent half an hour on the beach walking and discussing other little matters. But there seemed to be another surprise in wait as, on our 16th round, Ben deviated our path, and took me round the corner, where there was a small Mr. Smoothie's shop, barely visible to the normal eye.

Ben looked at me hesitantly and I knew at once what was going on in his mind. I told him that it was alright, and he bought me a simple strawberry smoothie, and for the most surprising fact, he bought himself, not a repulsive flavour, but the latest mint and lemon smoothie.

We sat on the beach, then, and watched the waves hitting the sand as though in a mesmerizing way. We were both silent, just plainly enjoying each other's company, and once again, my mind drifted off to other unimportant things. It may have been minutes, even hours, but I did not feel inclined to leave the beach side. This was always the kind of date I'd wanted - calm, uninterrupted, simple yet a perfect date. At that moment, I could not have been in love with life more than then. It was perfect; perfect in all senses, and a deep calm approached me. I shut my eyes only too willingly to enjoy it.

Perhaps I must have fallen asleep, for suddenly I felt a gentle rapping on my shoulder, and when I opened my eyes, my gaze directly met with Ben's; his emerald eyes, into which I could always drown myself. And then there was a moment, I must have been dreaming maybe, when I almost felt Ben come near to me, as in a kiss, but I must have given him an uncertain expression, for the next moment, he had increased the distance between us. He got up and called me too, to return back to the car.

* * *

At last, the most undesired moment in our date approached. Ben brought his car to a halt in front of my house, and now it was time for us to part for the night. Our date had been such a perfect one, and I had no intention to leave Ben, but as they say, all good things come to an end.

Ben walked me to the front door and said, "I hope you had a great time."

"It was our best date by far."

"Well, there certainly weren't aliens interrupting us, so there's that," Ben laughed forcefully on that, and said rather reluctantly "Uh… so, well… uh… good night Jules."

"Good night Ben," I whispered, as I slowly moved a step nearer to him.

Ben looked at me steadily and I returned his gaze equally in the same manner. "I don't know if I've told you this, but I've had a great time with you," he whispered again, and this time he came a step closer.

Getting a hint at what the both of us wanted, I replied, "But our date has not been complete – yet" and at the same I pulled Ben into a kiss. It was quite an extraordinary kiss that we shared on that spot, perhaps the best I ever felt.

Ben kissed me in the kind of way that each adjective contradicted the other severely – reckless yet careful, fierce yet gentle, passionate yet loving, every emotion in one kiss.

When we finally came up for air, we looked lovingly into each other's eyes before I muttered, "There... now the date is complete."

"That was... " was all Ben could manage. He looked completely bowled over, just like the first time I kissed him on his cheek. Boys. But suddenly I was taken by an urge to say something that would completely ruin the date, or else give me an utter disappointment. But I could not control that urge for long, before I found myself whispering to him once more, "I love you Ben".

Eternity held itself for me when Ben returned my statement with a more passionate "I love you too... I always have and I always will," before he walked towards the car. "Pick you up tomorrow for school…." He promised with a huge smile and a wink before he sat in the car. .

I stood there, rooted on the spot gaping at him, when I suddenly broke out of my stance and gave him an assuring nod, before waving at him, and him at me, and then, myself returning back home to cherish another beautiful memory that I would remember for years…

* * *

**Finally! I got the two love birds to come together for the time being! But what does my bringing them together do? It's all in MOA's hands to do anything about it! :( :( Anyways, so that this is my first story, all kinds of criticisms are very much welcome and at least for the sake of encouragement, please Review! :D :D**


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